Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Ana's Thought: "Artist, be brave! Go and make the most of what you do best!"

Every person you encounter has his or her own idea of what can be
considered art. I personally believe that art exists everywhere - to
uphold constraints is to deny yourself of so much magnificence!

In recent weeks, my Love & Peace flowers have found their way
into conversation with another facet of art: fashion. A number of
publications, including Dolce Vita and Cosmopolitan,
have used the sculptures' bright, glimmering petals as inspiration for
their couture editorials. The history of fine art and high fashion has
been woven together over centuries, bound by a mutual core: their
fascination with beauty.

Around the world, clothing has provided man with far more than warmth
and protection. It has played a key part in religious ceremonies,
rituals, and performances, leading to creations as varied as can be. The
pigments we use in fine art today can trace their lineage to the dyes
discovered to colour fabric!

Detail from Ana Tzarev's Shinosuke (Genji Monogatari).

One of the most striking examples of art and fashion bound together can
be found in Asian history. Japan's elegant, incomparable kabuki theatre
is celebrated for its fantastic garments; costumes define characters and
are splendid to behold. The nation's tradition of artful attire has
played a great role in the expressive style of their contemporary
culture, which has set the standard for cutting-edge design.

One of the most famed fashion designers was hailed for her artful
work and artful life. Coco Chanel was a revolutionary in the world of
couture, defying the standards of her day and reinventing notions of
popular styles with innovation and grace. She freed women from the grip
of corsets, opening doors to a new universe of creative potential.

Style icon and fashion revolutionary Coco Chanel.

Chanel was an inspiration to me as a young, art-minded fashion designer.
Her life and legacy taught me to never let the expectations of others
stifle my ideas. As I traveled the world to study the art and style of
so many regions, the spark to create grew brighter within me. My career
in couture paved the way for what was to come - a unique, passionate,
expressive, colourful, and all-absorbing life of beauty in art.

Artists and readers, inspiration can be found in the most surprising
places. Never let fear or
convention prevent you from exploring your
potential - within you lies the ability to transcend, reinvent, and
change the world!

Though the waking world is ripe with ideas waiting to be harvested,
there are few places so sweetly laden with inspiration as our dreams.
Such wonders spring forth to enchant our sleeping souls! The limits of
the day slip off easily, and we are left to explore the infinite
fascinations of the unconscious realm. Dozens of my works are inspired
by dreams - I even have a collection of works named Dreaming!
From peaceful reverie to jarring night terror, creative spirits
throughout the ages have found themselves frequent patrons of the mind's
nightly theatre.

Detail from Indigenous art at Australia's Barramundi Rock.

Among the earliest-known artists to tell stories from dreams were the
Indigenous peoples of Australia. Dreaming is a foundation of their
culture - their creation story, from which many of their great
traditions emerged, is known to the world as Dreamtime. During
this sacred era, the universe took shape by the great Creator spirit's
hand and the world they came to know was born. The mythical Dreamtime is
present in their most widely recognized art forms: painting and
engravings on rocks, their celebrated dot paintings, and with the music
and dances of their songlines. To this day, Australian indigenous art remains a stirring blend of spirituality, dreams, and nature.

Detail from Magritte's Time Transfixed.

As the science of sleep and of dreams gained acclaim in the early 20th
century, the world was changed - the art world being no exception!
Taking cues from the emerging psychological studies of Freud and the
rise of popular science, a number of truly original artists turned to
the mythical mind to find their subjects. Breton, Magritte, Dali, and
many others sought to match artistic prowess with visual intrigue,
creating paintings and sculptures that echoed the fantastic kingdom of
dreams. The movement, known to all time as Surrealism, had a profound
impact on the culture of its day and on the direction of modern art as a
whole.

Detail from Ana Tzarev's La Vie en Rose.

Despite centuries of deriving our ideas from dreams, the well of
inspiration is of a depth beyond measure; we shall never be left dry.
The art and science of dreaming is becoming more vivid with time, as
organizations like the International Association for the Study of Dreams
seek to explore both the creative and concrete sides of this universal
phenomenon.
Even the most resourceful, innovative creators may sometimes find
themselves at a loss of where to turn. Should the waking world become
obscure to you, Artist, seek clarity in your dreams - they hold insight
into your creative flow and show you how effortlessly your next
masterpiece can be born!

Friday, 9 August 2013

Ana's Thought: "Art that has beauty and energy can heal your body and your soul."

For centuries, healing and art have been intertwined, forces of energy that exist both within and beyond us. I have long held to the belief that the creation and enjoyment of art has the power to restore. Within my own life, I turn to painting as a salve for my ills. Art is the clear communicator between our bodies and our souls.

The human body is a fantastic creation in itself, undoubtedly the first subject of man's art and one of its most enduring. There are so many unique aspects of the physical body, twists and turns to be endlessly explored. It is separate but linked to the cerebral and spiritual, the realm from which the desire to create originates. These intersections played a great role in my Dreaming series, paintings in which figures test the boundaries of reality in their movements and positions.

Detail from Thomas Eakins' The Agnew Clinic.

As with all natural sciences, art has provided a lens of discovery through which understanding of health and medicine has grown. Through detailed studies of anatomy made by skilled draughtsmen, mankind gained insight into the workings of life. As scientists led explorations through the lovely universe hidden within us all, the artist's fascination grew with depicting the journey: Rembrandt and Thomas Eakins each created striking works from their observations of anatomy lessons, capturing the very moment that knowledge of the body was shared.

The great men whose works moved the world of medicine forward have been praised through the art of the ages. Countless artists from Rubens to Girodet have depicted Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine famed for his revolutionary philosophy of pathology. Albert Edelfelt painted a magnificent portrait of Louis Pasteur, whose invaluable efforts led to the reduction and eradication of several diseases. In creating such masterpieces, artists express their love and appreciation for flourishing innovation.

Detail from Damien Hirst's Anatomy of an Angel.

The art world's curiosity about the workings of the body persists to this day. Damien Hirst has incorporated anatomy into several sculptural works, from a towering, vibrant study of organ systems in bronze (Hymn) to the juncture of physical and spiritual, modern and classical (Anatomy of an Angel). Over thousands of years, our sense of wonder about the ways of the body has only grown - and as long as we find new questions to ask, our art will seek the answers!

"I love humanity, which has been a constant delight to me during all my seventy-seven years of life; and I love flowers, trees, animals, and all the works of Nature as they pass before us in time and space. What a joy life is when you have made a close working partnership with Nature, helping her to produce for the benefit of mankind new forms, colors, and perfumes in flowers which were never known before..." - Luther Burbank

In my younger days, I savored each drop of my education - every lesson was a shining gift to be unwrapped, and my mind was eager to take them in. I still recall with such clarity the day my class learned about Luther Burbank, a pioneer of agriculture and a true reveler in Nature's glory. The stories of his experiments and great success, driven by fascination with the workings of the world, resonated deeply within me.

Vivid illustrations accompanied the lesson, dazzling us with a kingdom of flowers and fruits. It was in that moment I first discovered the bridge between Art and biology, instilling in me the belief that both fields work together to expand human understanding. The seeds of inspiration were planted in my heart, and as years passed I grew into the role of an artist guided by Nature. My body of work is a testament to the ceaseless wonders we find when Nature and Art come together.

Detail from John Constable's Malvern Hall in Warwickshire.

The pages of history gleam with examples of biology and Art becoming one. As recently highlighted by the Financial Times, the tradition of landscape painting transformed into scientific exercise in the 18th century. Figures like John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner came to understand that, within Art, Nature was far more essential than mere background for dramatic scenes - narratives could be found within shifting skies, wild seas, and eroding stones. By taking a closer look at their surroundings, these scientist-artists developed a depth of feeling in their work that had never been reached before.

Drawings of Darwin's famous finches

Visual Art communicates clearly when words may confound. Darwin's incredible discovery in the Galapagos Islands - the key that unlocked great secrets of evolution - was granted strength by the work of his crew's draughtsmen. The depictions of the species and locales they explored transported scholars and laymen alike into a new plane of understanding. Hooke's brilliant illustrations showed mystery unfolding in fine detail, with cells changing from invisible, uncertain objects to something far more tangible. When scientists wish to make their ideas concrete, they find their answers in Art.

Through the language of Art and a common love of natural beauty, all people can share the revelations of science. With your curiosity and your talent to guide you, what will be your legacy for our time?

I have been painting full time for 25 years.

A true ‘citizen of the world,’ Ana Tzarev’s work is edified by decades of
extensive travel. She has taken residence in bustling Asian cities,
remote African villages, and the pristine landscapes of Australia,
immersing herself in cultures and customs to translate them onto canvas.
Her paintings are borne of that same lineage that produced the
sketchbooks of great explorers—logs kept to chart unknown realms
and share the wonders they possessed. Art critic Edward Lucie-Smith
describes her relationship with her work: “Ana Tzarev is a dynamic and
visionary painter because she has a constant desire to get it all down,
to recreate what she encounters in her own visual language.”

Tzarev’s artistic sensibilities have been honed by the histories of
those she encounters: through studies of the linear, organic qualities
that comprise Japanese woodcuts and the bold and distinctive textures of
the Masai textiles, she has developed an undeniably unique style. With exuberant, frenetic swathes of paint, the artist creates
pieces that function equally as documentary of tradition and the
capturing of ephemeral, universal moments; Tzarev’s joyful approach to
art enables her to encapsulate the emotions that preserve them, exuding
the very essence of life that makes these subjects so compelling.
Renowned art critic Dr. Alexander Borovsky eloquently describes her
style: “Ana Tzarev has learned how to ‘capture’ the depictive motif very
quickly. She has developed a powerful gestural style with an energy not
unlike that of the post-impressionist era: an open color, a
three-dimensional brush stroke—or rather, a fiery haze of strokes
drifting optically in space; a triumph of the de-reflective approach,
driven towards capturing and mastering nature’s signals.”

The
appeal of Ana Tzarev’s vibrant and expressive work is apparent in the
breadth of exhibitions that have showcased her art worldwide. Her
paintings have been featured in galleries, museums, and public spaces
across Europe and Asia, including the State Russian Museum in St.
Petersburg, the Gildo Pastor Centre in Monaco, the Santralistanbul
Museum of Contemporary Art in Istanbul, Cite Internationale des Arts in
Paris, the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, and
the Museo Diocesano di Venezia Sant’ Apollonia in Venice.

2013
is slated to be a significant year for Ms. Tzarev and her art. In
January, her works premiered at the National Museum of Rome in an
exhibition entitled “The Life of Flowers”, curated by famed art
historian Marco Tonelli. A large collection of works from the artist’s
Exposed series was also selected for inclusion in Venice’s 55th
Biennale. In 2014, she is poised to debut her paintings in China at
Beijing’s Today Art Museum.

The motivating force behind Ana
Tzarev’s work is the notion that art can be utilized as a powerful tool
for progress. From 2011 to 2013, she has shown her support for youth
arts through From Ana Tzarev, With Love, a joint workshop-exhibition
encouraging creative collaboration between children in Istanbul, London,
Paris, and New York. In 2012, she premiered an ongoing global
sculptural exploration, entitled Love & Peace, which has garnered
worldwide attention and acclaim. Conceived as a conduit for conversation
among all people, the massive floral sculptures of Love & Peace
have been installed in London, Shenzhen, and New York, with plans to
place more of these flowers in cities across the world. Tzarev wishes to
foster feelings of unity and the bond of one community through art, in
all the diverse ethnic groups that comprise the Earth.